Pride And Prejudice
by Shameless Deamus
Summary: Seamus is the one who is attacked by Buckbeak, instead of Malfoy, and Dean is not happy about it. Deamus!


**Side Note : This is my first Deamus, so please excuse me if it's not exactly steller. And this fanfiction is going to be movieverse!PoA :) **

**Disclaimer : I, sadly, do not own Harry Potter, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas or Deamus (damn!). But I own this plot :D That counts for something, right? **

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Dean was known as the more quite and peaceful member of the Gryffindor house, simply because he had very little to say about anything and instead contributed with smiles or nods of his head. Everyone knew this, even people outside of Gryffindor, but still he got along with everyone because that's just the way he was. He said seldom but everyone enjoyed having him around.

But there was one thing that seemed to rile Dean up, maybe a little more than it should have, but no one blamed him for it. It was in the nature of level headed wizards to dislike this particular thing.

Or, really, these particular people.

Dean was among the good portion of the student body that disliked the Slytherins. It wasn't really a case of house hate, per say; it was just that the snake-badged members of Hogwarts liked to get under everyone's skin and fester at their nerves, and Dean had a more mild sense of distaste for them because he was muggle born and the Slytherins enjoyed pointing this out frequently. So Dean disliked Slytherin students as a whole, instead of individually- because they all seemed to be one great mass of awfulness to him.

But then there was Draco Malfoy.

Draco had a rather large portion of that hate dedicated just to him. He hated almost everything about Malfoy; the way he walked as if every body of water would part for him as he strolled by, the way he smirked as if he thought he was just fabulous, and found himself clever. He hated how Malfoy played every one of his croonies around like a deck of cards, and no one even noticed it. But the thing he hated most about Malfoy was his arrogancy. He believed that everyone worshiped the ground he walked on, and that he had an intimidating swagger about him. He found it rather annoying, and knew that one day that air-headed arrogancy was going to catch up to Malfoy and repay him generously.

He just hoped that when Malfoy was taught a lesson that it would have nothing to do with him. But as always, his luck seemed to diminish just when he needed it most, and the blonde haired boy never seemed to learn from his mistakes, anyways.

During their first Care Of Magical Creatures lesson, the Slytherins and Gryffindors gathered up together in the little patch of woods. The two rival houses glared sourly at each other, bickering and arguing over the normal ridiculous topics, like Quidditch, house points and the works. He was quiet and void of the conversations, as usual, but another part of him felt almost uneasy. There was a sickening feeling settling itself in the pit of his stomach, making him feel both burning hot and icy, and he couldn't help but think that the fighting already going on between the two groups didn't have to do with it completely. But the nauseous feeling made him weary, because whenever he felt it, it meant that something bad was going to happen. And he wish he knew what that bad thing was.

That unease only increased as Hagrid, the ever lovable but sometimes scatter-brained half-giant, brought forwards a beautiful and intimidating Hippogriff, its body built with muscle and its beak snapping around a dead mammal. He'd gasped in surprise and felt his friend step closer, almost tucking himself into his side as the dominant creature gazed at them with cool blue eyes. But Hagrid seemed oblivious to their discomfort and instead looked over the clusters with a grin on his face, clearing his throat to make an announcing sort of sound. How Hagrid couldn't feel the fright rolling off of each of them like a perspiration, he would never know.

"Bloody hell, why hasn't he got that thing tied up or something?" Seamus suddenly hissed in his ear, hand clutching onto his elbow.

"I dunno, but he's mad." Dean murmured back, his concentration on the beautiful but dangerous looking creature wavering at the feeling of Seamus' fingers on his skin. "I'm afraid that it's going to get antsy and charge at us."

Seamus nodded in response, his oceanic blue eyes wide and almost trembling.

"So, who wants to come and pet him?" Hagrid asked, looking as though he expected everyone's hands to shoot up at once.

Everyone, except for an oblivious and shocked Harry took a long stride backwards to show that they would rather stand back and observe for the first part of class that hour instead of getting trampled to death by the Hippogriff. Hagrid hadn't seen them step back as he was too intrigued with Buckbeak's soft feathers, but neither had Harry, so it looked as though the brave Gryffindor were eager to encounter the mighty beast. And almost everyone's hearts twanged with sympathy as Harry was called forwards to slowly approach the curious Hippogriff, his steps hesitant but his raised hand steadier than his breath.

Everyone had watched the encounter with a combination of fright and wonderment, their breath catching worriedly in their throats as Buckbeak squawked and gestured that he was going to charge at an approaching Harry, but their gazes were immobile. It was like a horrible dance that they had been hypnotized to watch, but a dark, bloody one, something you'd find in the midst of a medieval opera. But as soon as the horror had begun, it was over, and Harry was gingerly stroking Buckbeak's feathers and smiling crookedly at the purring creature. It was very calming.

That is, until Hagrid had picked Harry up by his thin waist and had said something about riding the brilliant bird, the famous wizard squirming around and protesting against deaf ears. He was saddled upon the creature, and with another irritable squawk and a yell, Harry was flying away on the Hippogriff's back, gripping onto the white and gray feathers for dear life. And the rest of them watched as he soared away, shouting incoherently as they gasped in amazement.

"I'm not sure who's more insane," Seamus mused to him, turning his body to watch Harry's flight. "Hagrid or Harry."

"I think it'd be Hagrid." Dean answered. "He thinks that we all like the idea of riding a Hippogriff three days into the new year. Or anytime of the year, to be honest."

"He's not exactly sensible when it comes to his beloved beasts, is he?" Seamus beamed his trademark grin at the taller male, and Dean could have sworn that his heart had stopped; but he chose to ignore it.

"Not really." He replied, grinning back, internally yelling at his heart for pounding away in his chest.

Dean had been berating himself a lot lately, actually, the sensible voice inside of his head screaming at him to get a grip on himself. Once returning to Platform 9 3/4 and walking aboard the Hogwarts Express only a few days prior, his muscles and organs lumps of jelly, Dean didn't understand why he was so excited, yet anxious to go back to school. He assumed it was just the usual pre-school nerves eating at him, the ones that told him that was simply just antsy about seeing all of his old friends again. But he had known that it was something more than that, something much deeper than having to catch up with everyone again.

He hadn't even realized what the queasy excitement was, until when walking along the aisle way to find an empty compartment, or one with some of his friends in it, a slim, energetic person had jumped on his back with a yell of delight and made him go weak at the knees. Without even needing to turn around, Dean knew that the person on his back was Seamus, and such a thought of what he was doing was made Dean want to faint at their close proximity, his heart thrashing against the spot where the Irishman's hands held onto him.

And then Dean realized that he was in love with Seamus.

The acknowledgement he produced towards such a conclusion should have frightened, or even disgusted him, but Dean couldn't say that when he did think about it that he was surprised he was Seamus he'd fallen in love with. They were best friends, and Dean had always felt a little differently around the small blonde boy, anyways, and found more comfort than he should have in their small touches, classroom laughs and late-night chats. He was really just shocked that he hadn't figured it out sooner.

But he hadn't wanted the smaller boy to find out, or somehow figure it out in fear of what could happen to their close friendship. Because Dean would rather keep his best friend and never say anything about it than shout it out and have nothing left at all.

"Dean?" A pair of fingers clicked in front of his face, snapping him out of his far away recollections.

"Hm?" Dean blinked, his gaze suddenly focusing in on a miffed Seamus Finnigan.

"I asked you if you thought Harry was actually going to make it back alive," he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "but apparently I'm boring you."

"No, no, it's not that!" Dean said quickly, smiling at the awaiting blonde boy. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"A galleon." Seamus replied, a smile quirking back at his mouth, too.

"You've lost me again, Shay."

"A galleon for your thoughts, Dean. Haven't you ever heard that expression before?"

"I thought it was a penny for your thoughts!" the muggle-born of the two exclaimed, his eyebrows creasing along his forehead.

"You're a wizard, Dean. It's galleon."

"Whatever you say, Seamus."

"So do you think Harry'll make it back without managing to get killed?" Seamus asked him again, this time with the darker skinned male aware of his talking.

"Of course he will," Dean laughed. "This is Harry Potter we're talking about, Seamus. There's nothing in the world that can stop him."

The other thought about this response for a moment, before deciding that Dean was right because, well, Dean was always right- and that sometimes baffled Seamus.

"I wish I could fly." Seamus sighed, almost to himself; Dean looked over at him questionably, but the blonde kept his gaze on the cloudless sky. "I wish I could do a lot of things that Harry can, actually. I wish I were as good at Quidditch as he is. I wish that Dumbledore and the other teachers loved me as much as they love him. And I wish that I was more than just another wizard, you know?"

Dean said nothing, but continued to look at Seamus with wonderment. It kind of pained him to hear Seamus say these things about himself in a downing matter, as though he thought he were nothing at all, and it pained him to hear these things when Dean thought he was the complete opposite of nothing; to the darker-skinned boy, Seamus was everything.

"I think you're more than just another wizard." Dean said quietly. He mentally kicked himself for letting the words leave his head and exit his mouth, but he did not move to take them back. Instead, they hung in the silence between them, and distantly Dean wondered if the sudden awkwardness would suffocate him.

Seamus looked down from the sky suddenly, his eyes reflecting the blue he had just been observing, and Dean felt his lungs burn as he awaited to see what Seamus would do.

And he did something, alright, but it wasn't what Dean expected him to do.

Instead of snorting, laughing, getting weirded out or taking the piss on Dean, Seamus blushed. It wasn't the deep, blazing red some people's pigment became when embarrassed, but it was pink enough for Dean to see it dust over his cheeks, and the sight warmed his heart.

Seamus groped blindly for something intelligent to say, but as if hearing his silent plea for a diversion, Harry swooped back into the entrance of the forest, calling out in delight, and both of the boys let the situation go to turn and look at their approaching friend. The Gryffindors yelled and grinned in pride for the young Potter, clapping and amending him for succeeding in not dying at the ripe age of thirteen. Harry beamed back at them, both excited that he had survived, as well, and because he had just ridden on the back of a Hippogriff and it was the most fun he'd had in a long, long time.

Choruses of "Well done!" and "That was wicked, Harry!" could be heard echoing in the small ring of people as Harry dismounted from the beast, and the harrumphs coming from the Slytherins were almost completely blocked out. The students sporting green and silver on their robes were pretending to be bored out of their minds, or just neutrally unimpressed, but the Gryffindors could tell that they were jealous of Harry's flight succession under their cold poker-faces.

Well, all but one of the Slytherins were silently basking in a tantrumatic state, but everyone in the class expected the exception to speak out, anyways.

Draco Malfoy was loudly voicing his opinion to his group of friends, and his opinion was that the whole things was absolutely ridiculous, and that he could do exactly what Harry did ten times better without even trying. An anonymous third year egged Draco on, telling him to carry out his declaration, and with a snort that said Malfoy thought very highly of himself, he pushed himself off of his lean-to tree and parted the crowd.

"Oh, please." Malfoy said loudly.

The Gryffindors hopped to the side as Malfoy elbowed his way through them, frowning deeply at the platinum blonde boy, and they tsked in disapproval as he sauntered up to the Hippogriff. Buckbeak cocked his head in curiosity as Draco strutted to him, smirking cooly, but a moment too late did Hagrid and Harry notice what was happening. And with words of prejudice spitting from Draco's tongue, angering the Hippogriff, everyone watched in slow motion as Buckbeak stood on his hind legs and squawked loudly.

He swiped at Draco with his long, sharp talons, but at the last possible moment, Harry yanked Malfoy out of the way of the raging animal. When they hit the ground in a tangle of limbs, groaning, Buckbeak squawked again and charged forwards, blind with rage. Many of the students dove out of the charging animal's way, taking cover on the ground, but one stayed on his feet and watched Buckbeak barrel towards him in horror.

Dean couldn't seem to get himself to move out of the way, though his brain was practically screaming at him to- along with his classmates- and his heart both slowed down to the point of stopping and pounded harder than ever in his ears. He tried to move a foot again, but it didn't budge, and he stood helplessly in the center of his group of classmates.

"Dean, you git, move out of the way!" Ron yelled from his right. The warning just bounced off of his ears bluntly, and he ignored the warning; all he could see was Buckbeak rearing back once more, the beast in front of him at last, and his life seemed to flash brightly before his dark coffee-colored eyes.

And then there was a familiar shock of blonde hair tickling his nose, sending a waft of kiwi straight up it, and a loud cry rocked his entire body as the person threw their arm up in a shielding type of protection. Buckbeak cried back and lashed out at the person standing in front of Dean, claws cutting deeply into their arm.

In ten seconds the entire thing was over, because Hagrid had finally gotten control of his Hippogriff, leading it away with a dead ferret, and Dean's motor skills returned with a start. He found himself looking down at the person kneeling on the forest floor, clutching their arm tightly to their chest, and their blonde hair registered in Dean's clogged mind.

"Fucking hell Seamus!" he swore. Dean fell to his knees beside his best friend, and guilt immediately swarmed around inside of him as he took in the blood gushing from in between Seamus' fingers where they pressed against his arm.

Seamus looked up at him, whimpering quietly, and Dean remembered what he should do when he saw tears of agony welling in the other's baby blue eyes.

Snaking an arm around Seamus' back comfortingly, Dean pulled him closer and turned to yell to Hagrid.

"Hagrid! He needs to be taken to the hospital wing!" Dean informed his wide-eyed teacher. Hagrid nodded warily, and told Harry to watch after the Hippogriff before walking to the pair and picking Seamus up from the ground, holding him bridal style. Dean noticed for the first time that everyone was staring at him, some with fright and others with curiosity, and he swallowed thickly upon taking in all of the attention trained onto him. It moved, though, as Hagrid walked away with a mewling Seamus in his hold, and they followed their teacher's disappearing form as though they'd been hypnotized.

When Hagrid had finally left the ring of the forest and began up the path to the castle, the silence was splintered by yet another mindless comment from the Slytherin Peanut Gallery.

"What a twat." Malfoy's laughing voice cut through Dean like a knife, and he turned to look at the pure blood boy with anger bubbling up in his stomach rapidly. "He gets a scratch and acts as though he's dying."

There was a moment of an appalled silence, where no one talked and everyone's wide gaze turned to the arrogant Slytherin, and then suddenly Dean was on his feet, stomping up to the other boy. Malfoy cocked an eyebrow, almost lazily, and he challenged Dean with his cool silver eyes.

Dean growled and with anger burning into a hardening rage, he picked a surprise Draco Malfoy off of the ground by his robes and pinned him up against the nearest tree.

"The only person that's being a twat is you, Malfoy!" Dean snarled. And nobody could do anything but watch the scene with surprise, because Dean Thomas never got mad, or disagreed with anyone, or said anything in general that wasn't directed towards Seamus. "Your stupid prank nearly got Seamus killed, and if I wasn't on school grounds, I'd do exactly that to you!"

Malfoy gulped and looked up at Dean, and he was pleased to see nothing but fear in Draco's eyes and face.

"The next time you want to be a dick and mess around in class, I suggest you think about it first, because if you ever mess with Seamus or any of my other friends again and I catch you, you're going to be one sorry Slytherin."

Dean let go of Draco's front with a jerk, and he turned away sharply, his long legs striding towards the path that Hagrid had just took to exit the forest.

"Why don't you just finish me off right now, then?" Malfoy yelled after him.

Dean stopped walking, and he turned around to find Crabbe straightening him out and Goyle pushing Harry away back to Hermione and Ron.

He frowned coldly. "I'm going to make sure you didn't just murder my best friend, you twit."

No one said another thing as Dean stomped away after Hagrid, and instead they all looked at each other dazedly and began to make their way out of the clearing.

xXxXx

It had been nearly an hour before Madame Pomfrey popped her head out of the Wing's doorway, and announced tiredly that Seamus was allowed visitors. The only problem was that there could only be one visitor at a time, and Hagrid was there with Dean, as well, so the two had to decide who went first.

"I'll go and check up on Seamus firs'." Hagrid told Dean. "It'll be fast an' then you can see 'im."

Dean nodded, scrubbing at his aching eyes, and he let Hagrid slip into the hospital without a fight. His insides were being gnawed away at by a stabbing guilt, anyways, and he knew that seeing Seamus' mangled arm would only intensify that biting regret. So in an odd sort of way, Dean was glad that he was able to hold off on seeing the blonde for a bit longer, but the ache to see him whole and well over-powered the initial instinct to run away and hide.

After what seemed like an eternity later, but in actuality was only a few minutes, Hagrid exited the hospital and held the door open for Dean. The third year searched his teacher's face for a sign, the line between good and bad, but Hagrid's face gave away nothing. And that made Dean automatically assume that the outcome was worse than he expected it to be.

Entering into the Wing, Dean breathed in deeply to compose himself, and then looked around to locate his friend. He found Seamus almost at once, propped up in a bed, with his back facing a window and the afternoon sun seeming to light his blonde hair up in a golden fire. He noticed with relief that Seamus' arm was still whole, but he also noticed with distaste that there was some blood soaked into the thick white bandaging wrapped from his wrist to his elbow.

Making his way over to Seamus, Dean bit his lip anxiously, and tried to ignore the fact that he had been right when predicting the flared-up guilt. Seamus didn't look as though he blamed Dean, though, because when he caught sight of his friend, the Irishman beamed widely.

"Dean!"

Dean chuckled at Seamus' eager face and tone, and was flooded with another sense of relief when he realized that Seamus wasn't, in fact, as furious at him as he was with himself.

"Hey, Shay." he rhymed teasingly, taking a seat on the bed.

"I was worried that you weren't coming to see me!" Seamus chided, reaching out to lightly punch Dean's shoulder. "I saw Hagrid after Pomfrey said someone was here to see me and nearly cried."

"Sorry. He wanted to come in first to make sure you were okay before letting me in."

"Well I'm glad you're here now."

Looking away from Seamus' handsome face, grinning, Dean took in his injured arm up close. It was even worse at a more intimate range than it had been on the other side of the empty Wing, and Dean felt the guilt he'd momentarily squashed flare up again.

His grin died away as he gently brushed his fingers over Seamus' arm, and hardly felt the shiver that rocked through his friend.

"Damn." Dean hissed.

"It's not that bad, really." Seamus shrugged, as though nonchalant, but Dean looked up when hearing something change in his voice. "Just stings is all."

Dean wasn't so convinced, but at the moment there was something keeping him from voicing his doubt; Seamus was looking at him measuredly, with wide, bright blue eyes, and there was something that Dean had never seen burning in them. He couldn't pick out what exactly it was that made him stop to think, but the emotion that was pulsing in the other's irises was almost hypnotic, and Dean felt that he couldn't turn away.

He felt extremely vulnerable, as though Seamus were looking right through him and exposing his unspoken truths for everyone to see, and Dean could do no more than swallow shallowly.

"I'm sorry that you got hurt." he whispered.

Seamus smiled, and shifted a fraction of an inch closer.

"Eh, whatever, right?" his breath was sweet smelling, like mints and winter, and Dean felt incredibly intoxicated as the warmth of it soothed his burning cheeks. "It's about time that I get my own battle scars. One step closer to being like Potter."

Dean smiled, laughing lightly under his breath.

"I already told you though, Shay. I think you're glorious being just the way you are."

Seamus nodded. "I know. And as long as you think that, I'm not going to change a bit."

The two friends stared at each other for another long, thoughtful moment, and they studied the other; Dean admired the way that the sun highlighted Seamus' everything, and Seamus admired his friend's laughing eyes- the ones he found comfort in at every single possible moment.

Finally Seamus couldn't take it anymore, and he sighed in exasperation.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, Shay?"

"Can you just kiss me already?"

And for once, Dean found Seamus' pressing and demanding attitude to be endearing.

Sort of.

Dean grinned. "Sure thing."

Seamus sighed in relief, muttering on about praising the Lord, and pulled a highly amused Dean close to him by his robe fronts. Dean also found his impatience to be quite endearing in that moment, but let all of his intellectual thoughts escape him as Seamus planted a long awaited kiss on his smiling mouth. Snaking his left arm around Seamus' back, he pulled the blonde closer, and laced their fingers together with his right; all in all, the kiss was quite perfect, and Dean was happy to let all of his still-festering guilt go.

When they pulled away from each other after a few blissful seconds, Dean wasn't even surprised when Seamus began to talk almost at once.

"Hey, Dean?"

"Hm?"

Seamus squeezed his hand and braced himself for a shit-storm of scolding. "I didn't jump in front of you so that I could get a scratch like Harry- I jumped in because I didn't want Buckbeak hurting you."

"I know." Dean murmured, leaning in even closer to Seamus. "And if you ever do something as reckless as that again I'll throw you into the lake with the Squid."

Seamus laughed Dean's favorite deep, rich laugh, and nodded. "Fair enough."

**A/N: Well, I hope that wasn't too awful :D Because for some reason I seem to think that writing all of my stories at night when my energy begins to die the quickest is smart. I quite enjoyed writing my second ever Harry Potter fanfiction (the first one was a Dramione and it was awful because 1) I was in like eighth grade and I had the writing skills of a brick, and 2) it was heterosexual [omfg I don't think so ew]) Deamus is my Harry Potter OTP and I hope that those of you reading this love them as much as I do. Hopefully I'll roll some more Deamus and others out soon so if you didn't think that this was complete shit than yay something to look forward to :D **


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